Scott Field of Mississippi StateUniversity Earns FootballField of the Year Honors

BY SUZ TRUSTY

cott Field of Mississippi State University earned the Sports TurfManagers Association 2003 Football Field of the Year honors inthe CollegelUniversity division. The Scott Field site on thecampus in Starkville, has been in continuous use for footballsince 1914. Since that time, the stadium has undergone numer-

ous renovations and expansions. Lighting was installed in 1986. The most recent sta-dium expansion, completed in 200 1, added an upper deck with skyboxes and 8,700seats to the east side of the stadium, bringing the seating capacity to 55,500.

The field also has undergone many renovations. Bart Prather, MSU Sports TurfManager, says, "The current field is a Prescription Athletic Turf (PAT) sand-basedsoil system that was installed in 1977.It was the second collegiate field in the countryinstalled using this system, and was the first Bermudagrass field. This is a straightsand field, with no organic material added to the soil profile. The PAT systemincludes the standard extensive subsurface drainage system with a pump locatedapproximately 30 yards beyond the north end zone. For the most part, the field isgravity-drained, but we can use the pump to pull water through the system to main-tain a dry playing surface before and during heavy rain events. Though we generallypump only two to five times a year, it's an effective tool to have in our overall fieldmanagement program.

"The sand-based PAT system is not continuous around the perimeter of the field.The soil profile is sand-based from sideline to sideline, and at installation (for rea-sons unknown), only one-half of each end zone was installed with sand. All the fieldsurrounds are a heavy clay soil that is very subject to compaction and requires sepa-rate irrigation and fertility strategies. We use tarps to reduce turf damage on the side-

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lines, but wear from foot traffic by cheerleading crews is always an aesthetic prob-lem. The irrigation system is a Toro Monitor II hydraulic system with Toro 640heads installed in the field at 48 foot spacing."

Prather inherited his "green thumb" as both his parents were raised on farmsand the growing aspect just came naturally. His first sports turf experience cameduring his sophomore year of high school. As a player on the school's baseball team,he helped with field maintenance. At first he thought coaching would be his careerpath. He graduated from Meridian Community College and then spent a semesterat the University of Southern Mississippi on a baseball scholarship before transfer-ring to MSU for the sports turf program. After graduation, he became sports turfmanager for War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, where he oversaw a field con-version from a synthetic surface to natural turf. Next, he moved to the head spot atthe University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, where he oversaw the conversion of thatfootball field to natural turf. He accepted the MSU position five years ago.

So, when extensive renovation was necessary for Scott Field in 2002, it was easi-er for Prather and his staff. He says, "Laser leveling was used to return the crown to azero percent grade. We want the water to infiltrate straight down and percolatethrough the sand profile rather than surface drain to the heavy clay surrounds. Thefield was fumigated to control soil-borne nematodes and any potential Bermudagrasscontamination. Then the field was sprigged with MS-Choice Bermudagrass usingcustom row planting."

MS-Choice Bermudagrass is a unique tetraploid cultivar (often referred to in theturf industry as a "common" Bermudagrass) that was selected, developed, andpatented by Mississippi State University. It is marketed nationally as Bulls-eyeBermudagrass ..

"We initially selected this grass for its genetically dark green color and exception-

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al canopy density," notes Prather. "It has more of a lateral growth habit than otherbermudagrasses and it resists scalping during mowing in the early to mid-fallmonths. MSU had replaced our previous Tifway 419 bermudagrass turf with theMS-Choice before the 1996 season. We had been very impressed with the improvedtolerance to wear, so we knew it was the turf we still wanted.

"We're just starting our third sea-son with the new MS-Choice and itseems to be getting even better themore mature it gets. We've leamedthat it will initially appear a littleleggy, more like common bermuda-grass, as it comes out of dormancy,but will develop a dense canopywithin three to four weeks into thegrowing season. The high densitydoes make getting good seed to soilcontact a challenge when we do ouroverseeding with perennial ryegrass.We drop the mowing height from5/8-inch to 112-inch,verticut andsweep the field in multiple direc-tions, and then put down the seed.We had tried a less aggressive pro-gram the first time we overseededand the rye really struggled to takehold. Since so many of our gamesare televised, our goal is not only toprovide the best possible bermuda-grass base for playability, but also apleasing appearance on the screen.We're far enough south that thetransition back to bermudagrass isgenerally easier. We do speed theprocess by spraying out the perenni-al ryegrass with metsulfuron rightafter the spring football game."

Scott Field is dedicated to foot-ball. It hosts two weekend camps peryear, usually in mid-June or lateJuly. The Bulldogs' spring seasonruns from mid-March to mid-April.This puts six or more practices orscrimmages on the field plus theseason wrap up Maroon and Whitegame. Players report for the fall sea-son and two-a-day practices aroundthe first of August and will scrim-mage on Scott Field at least threetimes during the second week ofAugust. It will handle another threeto six practices spread through thefall season. The Bulldogs playa sixto eight game home schedule. Inthe recent past, the field has hosteduniversity commencement exercisesand selected high school footballgames at the request of universityand athletic department officials.

"Weather is always a factor. Bylate May, we're into the mid-80swith humidity in the mid-80s. Oursummer temperatures hit the hun-dred plus degree range occasionallyand average in the low to mid-90swith humidity levels consistently inthe high 90s. It can be tough on ourcrew and we start work by 7:00 AMto help work around it. The good

part is the bermudagrass thrives on it. We try to wait as late as possible to overseedeach season because of the heat impact on the perennial ryegrass, but we must letthe schedule dictate the timing. We do want the rye coverage once the Bermudagoes dormant. During the winter, our average low is in the upper-20 to low 30-degree range, though we can dip into the teens and single digits. Then we deal with

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early morning frost. With the new addition on the east side of the stadi-um, we have to wait a bit later to paint to allow the sun to hit the field."

Prather, and Assistant Sports Turf Manager Jason Smith, manage allof the MSU athletic fields working directly for the MSU CampusLandscape Department. The MSU Athletic Department contracts withthe Campus Landscape Department on a yearly basis for the mainte-nance of the athletic fields. In addition to Scott Field, there are twograss football practice fields, a new generation synthetic turf practicefield, the women's soccer and softball fields, Dudy Noble Field forMSU baseball, and the track and field facility. They also oversee thegrounds in the northwest part of campus, which include those sur-rounding the Athletic Department and the Coliseum. Prather also hasone full-time landscape turf individual on staff to care for these areasand help on the fields if needed.

All of the athletic fields double as the on-site training facility forMSU students that aspire to become sports turf managers. Under thesupervision of Prather (MSU class of 1994) and Smith (MSU class of2002), the daily management activities on MSU athletic fields are per-formed by students majoring in Golf and Sports Turf Management. This coopera-tive arrangement between the MSU Plant and Soil Sciences Department, the MSUCampus Landscape Department and the MSU Athletic Department demonstratestheir strong commitment to student education while providing a superior level oftraining for the students.

Prather says, "Since Jason and I are both graduates of the program, we knowwhat they're getting in the classroom and how we can best support that with actualfield management experience. We work closely with those overseeing the program,previously Dr. Jeff Krans and Dr. Mike Goatley, and now Dr. Barry Stewart and Dr.Gregg Munshaw.

"While the hands-on athletic field experience is open to all students in the turf

the year

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program, we encourage those who know sports turf management is what they wantto do to join our crew. We've found these are the ones who not only work hardestand do the best job for us, but who also ask the most questions and are most eagerto take on every aspect of field care, so they gain the most from it. We, as an indus-try, need to reach out before the college program to get the attention of the nextgeneration that this is a great way to combine a love of sports with a career in turf.We also need to find opportunities for high school level students to gain someequipment-based background. Unless they come from a farm, nursery or landscapebackground, many of the college students have no experience operating equipmentother than a car or golf cart.

"We try to start the students in the areas they have the greatest interest in, base-

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ball, softball, football, and then expand their program so they gain a broad level of experience. They'll be han-dling all aspects of maintenance and operating all of the equipment. We demonstrate how things should be done,have them work on it until they can demonstrate to us that they are competent, and then give them the responsi-bility to take on an assignment and complete it to our standards. All this has to fit around their class schedules, sothey also learn how to set priorities and work as part of a team."

On field painting day, Prather will pull in three full time employees to assist, with the students rotating in andout from class to do all the trimming and assist with numbers, hashes, etc. He and Smith tackle all of the largearea painting (end zones, borders, and middle emblem). Prather says, "We have a stencil man. Buddy Gentry,who owns a local sign shop, has been stringing out our end zones and laying out our middle emblem for over 30years. The department hires him, but the dedication is all his. He's developed a set of stencils that can do nearlyall the letters of the alphabet, just by turning them in different directions. In another long-term relationship, werely on Tra DuBois and World Class Paint to supply whatever we need and they've always come through for us."

Solutions to past mistakes in field painting and to vandalism demonstrate the innovative attitude of the turfmaintenance staff. A few years ago, the goal line "G" was accidentally painted at the 5-yard line of the north endzone on the Thursday before a game. To remedy this, Prather painted a "Dawg Paw" over this spot, thus maskinga serious problem, and attracting much positive attention from the game day crowd. Several years earlier, vandalshad used diesel fuel to write letters of the Greek alphabet near the mid-field logo. The turf staff quickly designed alogo to honor the memory of a recently deceased student athlete that also masked the damage caused by the van-dalism.

Prather says, "One of the most important things we want our student staff to learn is how to set up a goodmanagement program and then understand how to adapt it to fit turf needs, weather conditions, and use schedul-ing. Being able to read a field, to look at it and adjust the program as we do with Scott Field, is the kind of educa-tion we want to give them."

Rick Cleveland, one of the state's leading sportswriters, in an article last year that focused on the conversion ofnatural turf athletic fields to synthetic turf at other facilities, wrote: "Mississippi State does not have any suchplans, and if you could grow grass like State can, you wouldn't either. We can debate the merits of the respectivefootball programs from here to doomsday. (Heck, Mississippians do that every day.) But, on this point, there is nodebate: State grows grass better than the other two. It ain't even close. You want to go to college to learn how togrow grass, then go to State. Those folks can sure enough grow grass."

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